In one of those accent threads, I’ve been told that I sounded like Sunspace. So I suppose that my accent in English is mostly Canadian, specifically central-eastern. Of course, I was reading a pre-prepared text, not actually having a conversation. I have a Canadian French accent that varies from almost inaudible to very strong, the latter especially when I’m nervous.
Last month in Prague, some guy guessed that I was Argentinian. I don’t know if that was just a random pick or if I actually do sound a bit like one.
I wish I knew. I grew up in Washington, D. C. in the 1950’s, then family moved to the Maryland suburbs. I’ve had people from New England tell me I have a southern accent, but have had others who think I’m from Canada. I pronounce out: oot; about: aboot; bread: bra-id (two syllables); I’ve heard that native Washingtonians pronounce “Washington” Warshington, and my sister and I pronounce it that way. A co-worker with whom I discussed regional accents asked me “how do you pronounce earth’s natural satellite?” I said "moon (moo-n) He said there you go; I said, wtf, how can you pronounce "moon’ any way besides “moon”? Apparently he heard it differently than I did. It’s all still a mystery to me.
You cahn’t pahk yer cah in Hahvad Yahd because Hahvad Yahd is a friggin’ pahk. If someone says that, they’ah eithah a foreignah oah friggin’ retahded.
But yes, the Boston Accent does exist. It’s sadly dying out quite a bit in the younger generation, though. In general, the older one is, the stronger the accent is. Some older people still actually say long A’s (like bahhth), and most of the middle aged demographic completely drops the R’s. For what it’s worth, my 40something year old mother was mistaken as British in Texas a couple years ago… :eek:
Hard to say. Like Onomatopoeia I have lived abroad, all over the world…
Originally from the Ohio River valley, then Florida (before it was paved). Then gone.
I tend to speak (English) slowly, distinctly and softly. could be a slight Southern US influence in that.
Wife is English she says I am “Middle Atlantic” would that be Azores?
Inland Northern (originally from Cleveland, Ohio). Mary, marry, merry all sound exactly the same; cot and caught completely different. I’ve been reading about the “Northern Cities Vowel Shift” but I swear I have no idea what they’re talking about. It’s such a recent phenomenon, I was born long enough ago to have missed it. I haven’t been back to visit Cleveland in years.
I left Ohio for Virginia 20 years ago. It’s like the Cleveland Vowel Club called a meeting in 1991 and said, OK, she’s finally moved out, whew! thought we’d never get rid of her, we can go ahead and shift now. Or “naeouw,” I’m not sure.
Interesting how the map shows a dialect boundary exactly matching the topography in Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania: the Allegheny Plateau extends to only a few miles from the Lake Erie shore just east of Cleveland. I grew up on the east side, near Cedar Hill, the escarpment where the edge of the plateau rises above the lacustrine plain. While we in Cleveland spoke a dialect that originated in western New England and spread west around the Great Lakes, we were aware that not far south and east of us our fellow Ohioans spoke a full-on Appalachian dialect. I remember it as a fairly sharp and distinct boundary. My Mom was born in Cleveland too, but her maternal roots from western Pennsylvania added a tinge to her accent that is noticeably different from Cleveland dialect.
from around Smoky Mtns. so speak hillbilly…wish Hollywood could figure out that we NEVER say “anythin’” but we ALWAYS say “nothin’”…(oh, we say “anyTHANG” gotta have that “g”)
Becky2844, ever since I first heard the Appalachian pronunciation of Appalachian, I haven’t been able to say it any other way. Blood calls to blood, I guess.
So no one bothered to click on my link, or were y’all all just being too polite?
Here’s the corrected link. And here’s one with one of those unique phrases. There’s a little bit of hissing, but you can still see if you agree with my assertion about my accent.
Inland North. Born and raised in Madison, currently live in Chicagoland.
There are subtle differences I notice between Madisonian Wisconsinites and Chicagolandiers. But at least in my area there’s not too many of the “Da Super Fans” speakers. There are a few, but not many. Most sound a lot like me.
Now my co-worker from rural Indiana, hooo-boy, there’s a different sounding accent ;D
I speak a neutral American Californian English. I grew up in Hawaii, but my mom was very sure that I didn’t pick up the local accent so I could, you know, someday get a job around white people.
That was her reason, I’m not saying I agree with it. Although, if I wen have one local, dakine, accent, the haoles at da HR department wud be all, “Nah, no need call back.”
Malaysian-English or Manglish. We tend to add in Malay words especially the “lah” which is sort of an exclamation (example, “C’mon, lah!”). It’s a type of pidgin English where we literally translate the sentence straight from Malay without using the proper English words. For example, “Let me spend you” instead of “Let me treat you” or “Where can?” instead of “That’s not possible”. I do it deliberately just for shits and giggles but I suspect some of my fellow M’sians speak that way because they think that is the correct way.
Is this the right link? I can’t even tell if that is English, it sounds like German?